The offbeat personal finance blog for responsible people.

Black Coffee: Why ‘Working’ Has Suddenly Lost Its Cachet

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of whats been going on in the world of money and personal finance.

Well, I am completely swamped at work. So much so that I’m now working on the weekends. As a result, I’m bringing you another espresso edition of Black Coffee this week.

In fact, I think I hear my boss calling — not the Honeybee, my other boss — so we better get things started …

The Way-Back Machine: Past Posts Of Mine You May Have Missed

From December 2010:

Important Art Investment Tips for Newbies – Fine art offers a unique alternative for those who are looking to diversify their investment portfolios beyond the traditional mix of stocks, bonds, cash and precious metals. In this guest post, a long-time art dealer offers up his best advice for investors looking to venture into the world of fine art.

Debit: Jobs are precious right now. Last month, the number of Americans who had a job or were actively looking for employment, fell to a 35-year low. That’s especially disconcerting because the number of massive federal entitlement programs, and government bureaucrats now micromanaging our lives, is at an all-time high.

Debit: With that in mind, it’s really no wonder that nearly 1 in 3 Americans — more than 100 million people — are now receiving government welfare in the form of food aid. That’s more than the number of full-time employees working in the private sector.

Credit: Once the number of people in the cart are greater than the number who are actually pulling it, then what? Hey, I’m just askin’.

Debt: This much is certain about the remaining cart pullers: They’re once again spending, on average, an unhealthy portion of their income on the mortgage; 40% to be exact. Ideally, that number should be no more than 30% — but preferably less. The average house payment is now $1287.

Debit: In fact, disposable personal income is growing at the slowest pace since such records began in 1959. Okay, you got me. It was slower one other time — in 2009.

Credit: Even so, since Barack Obama became president in 2009, stocks are up 108%. The nearly five-year stock market rally now exceeds the length of the average bull market by almost an entire year. Strange times indeed.

Debit: Of course, stocks and home prices have been artificially turbo-charged by the Fed’s quantitative easing (QE) and near-zero-interest rates policies, which have completely distorted those markets. Heck, even Ben Bernanke admits that.

Debit: Unfortunately, QE is doing more harm than good. In fact, the Fed’s relentless money printing campaign is hastening the demise of the US dollar. Scoff all you want. The day is coming, folks.

Debit: With the US dollar — not to mention the entire world financial system — getting closer to their final day of reckoning, one accomplice has decided to clear his conscience. Last week a former Fed employee apologized to America in the Wall Street Journal, calling QE “the greatest backdoor Wall St. bailout of all time.”

Debit: As for Obamacare, somehow, things just keep getting worse: Fewer than 79,391 people have enrolled on the state websites — and just 27,000 have enrolled on the federal exchange. Meanwhile more than 5 million people have had their individual insurance canceled. Forward!

Credit: Thankfully, there are a few Obamacare advocates who are willing to occasionally take off their rose-colored glasses. Harvard professor David Cutler, one of the train wreck’s architects, reluctantly admitted this week that things are so bad that we could be looking at the beginning of a healthcare death spiral.

Credit: Speaking of death spirals, the federal Obamacare exchange has been spewing almost-comical garbled messages while America’s “best and brightest” continue to try and fix things by the end of the month — on the fly. I know. Believe me. I know.

Debit: Despite all of this, Kathleen Sebelius, the government bureaucrat in charge of Obamacare’s execution — er, in a good way — continues to insist that, “the marketplace is working.” If that’s her definition of “working,” well … things are even worse than I thought.

(The Best of) By the Numbers

How many of you remember (or would like to forget) the top 10 movies from 1996?

With more than 200 people responding, it looks like roughly 1 in 6 Len Penzo dot Com readers aren’t comfortable with traveling by air. According to Psych Central, among the total population, 30% claim to be apprehensive about flying, although the number of people who have a true white-knuckle fear is less common; somewhere between 2% and 10%. Another tidbit: flying phobias are more common in females.

Other Useless News

Here are the top — and bottom — five Canadian provinces and territories in terms of the average number of pages viewed per visit here at Len Penzo dot Com over the past 30 days:

Every week I feature the most interesting question or comment  assuming I get one, that is. And folks who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbag get their letter highlighted here whether it’s interesting or not! You can reach me at: Len@LenPenzo.com

Last week, Cammie sent me a very nice note that included this burning question:

Thanks so much for the shout out in this week’s edition of Black Coffee, I super appreciate it!

I gotta say that I absolutely LOVE your Debit/Credit section. It’s filled with great stats, insight and brilliant humor. I know what it takes to write what I consider to be a quality post and I’m blown away at what you produce while working a full-time (and then some) job.

I’m glad you’ve figured out how to make that happen because I really love your site.

Dear Len, or readers, Just when did “working full time” go from 40 hours per week to 30? Somehow I missed the announcement the day it was decreed that “full time work” consisted of 30 hours. That’s only six hours per day. What happened? All my fifty-one years of working for a paycheck a full time job was forty hours.

As far as food aid goes…well, there are massive amounts of companies who base their business plan on paying people a certain amount and keeping their hours low enough that they don’t have to pay benefits. So, that means people are eligible for food stamps.

When I was just a teen, working in the grocery industry, it was moving in that direction. They were hiring younger people and limiting them to hours that would not make them eligible for benefits.

I gotta say – reading your blog is at times a very disheartening experience. But I ain’t shooting the messenger here – you’re doing a great service letting the people know that things really are as rosy as they seem (which ain’t rosy at all!). Keep it up Len.

Disclaimer

This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and the content herein should not be mistaken for professional financial advice. Ultimately, you and you alone are responsible for the decisions you make in life, so please contact an independent financial professional for advice regarding your particular situation. This website accepts cash advertising, sponsorship, and other forms of compensation that may occasionally influence advertising content or topics of discussion.